Beethoven: Symphony n.4 – mov.1 [analysis]

Last updated Jan 7, 2025 | Published on Oct 20, 2020

Winner of a fellowship at the Bayreuther Festspiele, Mr. Griglio’s conducting has been praised for his “energy” and “fine details”. Mr. Griglio took part in the first world recording of music by composer Irwin Bazelon and conducted several world premieres like "The song of Eddie", by Harold Farberman, a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize. Principal Conductor of International Opera Theater Philadelphia for four years, Mr.Griglio is also active as a composer. His first opera, Camille Claudel, debuted in 2013 to a great success of audience and critics. Mr. Griglio is presently working on an opera on Caravaggio and Music Director of Opera Odyssey.
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Table of contents

Introduction

1806, the year the 4th symphony was born, was a particularly intense one for Beethoven. The rising popularity of his music put the composer in a state of feverish composing: these are the years of the Appassionata piano sonata, the violin concerto, the 4th piano concerto, the Razumovskij quartets.

It can’t be excluded that his inspiration was fueled also by his immortal beloved, aka, perhaps, countess Therese von Brunswick.
Regardless, Beethoven finished his fourth symphony in the fall of 1806. Its premiere took place on March 7, 1807, conducted by Beethoven himself at the Lobkowitz Palace in Vienna.

Compared to his 3rd symphony, the Eroica, the fourth goes back to a late 1800s form: it’s much less emphatic and heroic in spirit, and its dimensions are much more contained. What it does keep is the melodic invention and the process of development of the various motives. Plus, naturally, one of Beethoven’s most common fingerprints: the rhythm.

This symphony was beloved by the romantic composers: Mendelssohn programmed it in his opening concert in 1835 with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Schumann, as mentioned,  called it the “slender Greek maiden between two Nordic giants“, referring to the 3rd and 5th symphony.

Scheherazade by Édouard Frédéric Wilhelm Richter (1844-1913)

Beethoven around 1804 painted by Willibrord Joseph Mähler 

Beethoven Symphony n.4: an analysis of the 1st movement

Exposition

Adagio

From a structural point of view, we are in a typical sonata form: an exposition with 2 contrasting themes, a development, and a recapitulation. Everything is framed by a slow introduction and a coda.

Beethoven 4th is pervaded by a joie de vivre, and by a plethora of luminous and dynamic themes. However, that’s not immediately clear: the introductory Adagio opens in a static and suspended atmosphere.

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.1

This introduction begins on a double articulation: the woodwinds plus the horns with a pedal affirm the tonic (B flat) while the strings develop a creepy descending line on intervals of thirds: Gb-Eb, F-Db, Eb-C and finally Db-Bb.
It’s all very unsettling: the symphony is in Bb major but here we are clearly in a minor key.

On measure 5 the Gb returns moving towards the F (the dominant) with which the second part of this first section of the introduction opens: this tentative line anticipates what will happen in the Allegro.

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.2

The second entry of the introduction on the tonic comes with an imperative fp

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Allegro vivace

First theme

The Exposition immediately presents a problem: the beginning of the first theme does not coincide with the “main phrase” marked by the change of tempo at measure 39.

Beethoven takes a little more time to introduce us to it. He lingers in the material presented in the last 2 bars of the Adagio and accelerates it: the quintuplets in the adagio are turned into 4 16th notes in the Allegro; then into 2, twice per bar; then into a triplet

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.7

until we finally land on the Bb

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.8

Technical tip

Here’s a suggestion to break the pattern: pulse on the 16th with a circular motion; increase the size of your gestures along with the crescendo; and once you reach the Bb and initiate the f, reduce the size of your gesture to a minimum: you’ll get a crisp staccato in its piano dynamic. 

For the harmonic analysis take a look at the bonus material section

See how lively and sparkly this theme is? But wait: Beethoven immediately opposes to it a contrasting idea played by oboe, clarinet, and bassoon

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.9

only to go back to with the full orchestra a few bars later: notice how powerful it is now with the timpani and trumpets. Everyone is playing the same rhythm, except for the violas

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.10

a short bridge takes us to a third repetition of the theme. But look at how the theme in this passage is hidden and transformed into an accompaniment in the bassoons

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.11

As I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, the contrasts typical of Beethoven’s writing are very much present here as well: from rhythm to dynamics we go from one surprise to another. In this respect, it’s very similar to his second symphony. 

The music cascades on bar 93 into a tense passage in syncopation

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.12

The tension vanishes almost immediately in the following bars, introducing the second theme

Second theme

The second theme, joyful and charming, is introduced by the bassoon, repeated by the oboe, and then once more by the flute

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.13

but wait, here’s another surprise: the second theme is correctly in the dominant key. However, Beethoven changes that almost immediately getting into the realm of D minor

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.14

then stomps his feet in a big crescendo of the orchestra back into F major

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.15

Now we would expect perhaps a coda closing the exposition. Nope. We have a secondary second theme or a third theme

Third theme

This one is a canon in p between clarinet and bassoon

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.16

retaken in f by the violins doubled by the flute with the canon of the lower strings

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.17

Coda of the exposition

Those syncopations we heard earlier bridging into the second theme are now used to create the coda of the exposition

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.18

Development

The development begins with a sort of preparation for the real development: the head of the first theme is used in different modulations, moving between F major, G minor, and C major

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.19

until we land on an A major (and then A major 7th) harmony: the atmosphere is suspended again

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.20

The development, in accordance with the typical development of the first Beethovenian symphonies, proceeds by “models in modulating progression“. At measure 221 we have the first “model” with a new cantabile theme in D major played by the first violins and cellos, and repeated by the flute, clarinet, and bassoon

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.21

Actually, this could be also considered as a variant of the counterpoint of the winds in the third entry of the main theme in the exposition.

The idea bounces back and forth between sections several times, passing from D major to G minor to E flat major. On this harmony that the second episode of development is introduced

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.22

We can clearly see the 2 elements of the head of the first theme: the triplets of 16th in the first violins and the rhythmic element in cellos and basses. This second modulating progression moves down by half step each time.

The last part of the development (from measure 281) consists of a long crescendo towards the return of the main theme. The harmony is fundamentally hinged on the dominant seventh chord. It starts with the second part of the first theme

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.23

and lands on a Bb pedal in the timpani. On this pedal, the crescendo is built on the 16th element, in both its regular and in its triplet configuration

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.24

Notice how this entire section is only played by the strings and timpani. Nobody else comes in till the ff at bar 333

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.25

Recapitulation

The recapitulation is contracted: there is no passage in full between the first two expositions of the theme and the third. After the presentation of the theme, we have a short transition

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.26

after presenting the theme again we have a syncopated conclusion leading into the second theme. Notice the pedal of horns, trumpets, and timpani on the F, anticipating the correct key of Bb for the second theme

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.27

After the second and third themes have made their appearances, we are carried all the way to the coda with no major changes compared to the exposition.

Coda

The final Coda merely re-proposes the various elements of the movement: starting with the syncopations

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.28

moving on to the head of the first theme

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.29

and to its contrasting element

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.30

finishing up with one last call to those triplets of 16th

Beethoven symphony n.4 mov. 1 analysis - ex.31

In conclusion

It is not easy to follow in the footsteps of Beethoven. Not even for Beethoven.
What could come after the Eroica after all? From the point of view of structure and dimension, it seems like Beethoven took a step back. He even reintroduced the slow introduction typical of the symphonies of the time.

But: Beethoven is still Beethoven. Even though the 4th has a more traditional approach, by scratching the surface we see all his disruptive power: the unsettling introduction that resists establishing the clear Bb major; and the rhythmic element becoming predominant in all aspects of this movement, much like it is the first movement of his 5th symphony.

Notes

Cover image by Lucas Craig from Pexels

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Gianmaria Griglio is an intelligent, exceptional musician. There is no question about his conducting abilities: he has exceptionally clear baton technique that allows him to articulate whatever decisions he has made about the music.

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